DT3/DTTG and Dropbox syncing questions

Hi,

I have been using Paperless for years, but I am not really satisfied with the way Mariner is improving their product so I came across DT3 to see if it is a better alternative. I have downloaded the DT3 trial on my iMac and was exploring its options. It looks like a really powerful tool based on what I have read in the manual and the forum, and playing around with it.

I have created several databases (personal and business related) which I sync via one Dropbox Sync Store. I could also see the databases were flawlessly synced to my MBP when I logged in with my Dropbox account in the DT3 trial app. I also downloaded the To Go app to see if I could see the same databases with the same Dropbox account. Somehow that was not the case. It does not let me select the databases I created on my iMac. What am I doing wrong? It only seems to create its own database from the To Go app. This database is also not visible in the desktop app. I would have expected it to see it under ‘Remote’, but, alas, it does not show up there.

Other questions that I have.

  • I have now created a database per client for my work related documents. This is synced then through the Dropbox Sync store. When I close/delete the database from both local machines, will it still be available in the Dropbox sync location? That would be super awesome then.

  • And in terms of Dropbox syncing, what is advisable? A Dropbox Sync Store per database, or what I have done now? One Dropbox Sync Store with multiple databases? What works best in terms of performance?

  • What happens with the databases, if I would switch from Dropbox to iCloud syncing in the future?

  • Is there a way possible to have OCR data from scanning documents with my IX500 to end up in the metadata of the DT3 processed documents? Somehow Paperless was able to do that, albeit in a limited way. E.g. recognising the ‘company’ / ‘organisation’ of the scanned document.

Hope you have some answers as I am really new to DT3.
thx WJ!

Do you use the same Dropbox account on both devices and the same encryption key (if specified)?

The sync store is independent of the local databases and still available after quitting. However, it’s not useful for the user or any other app, it’s only for synchronising.

This doesn’t affect the performance, for personal usage on sync store is usually sufficient.

DEVONthink and DEVONthink To Go work with local databases, they’re not cloud-based solutions. Therefore switching the sync locations requires only time to set up the locations on all devices and to upload the databases to these new locations.

Currently DEVONthink is only able to retrieve the amount of e.g. receipts/bills and the date of documents (e.g. via smart rules or scripts).

Thx cgrunenberg,

Do you use the same Dropbox account on both devices and the same encryption key (if specified)?

Yes I do, It automatically logs in with my Dropbox account in both the Desktop as Mobile app. I cannot switch that. So that’s why it is so strange, I do not see the databases in the mobile app.

BTW, for now, I did not use the ‘encryption key’ as I am still testing the capabilities.

Thx, WJ!

Hold the Option key and choose Help > Report bug to start a support ticket.
Thanks.

The syncing with DTTG has been solved, I used the wrong name for the Dropbox syncing. So kudos the support desk!

One more question, when I scan via ScanSnap a document, I let DT3 do the OCR magic to a searchable PDF (in Dutch).

  • Is this indeed the best way, choosing not to do the OCR magic from ScanSnap, but directly via DT3?
  • And when DT3 has done the OCR magic, the PDF document is always searchable, even when I use the PDF document outside DT3? I noticed already when I opened the document via Finder, or directly via Preview and searched for a specific Dutch word.
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Depending on your documents and needs it might be unnecessary or might return better results. E.g. you could compare the text layer of OCR results of both ScanSnap and DEVONthink by converting the PDFs to plain text.

That’s correct.

Depending on your documents and needs it might be unnecessary or might return better results. E.g. you could compare the text layer of OCR results of both ScanSnap and DEVONthink by converting the PDFs to plain text.

But if I do it via ScanSnap, is DT3 then able to do the same search operations?

If a document is OCR’d, regardless of the OCR’ing application, the document should be searchable.
Since ScanSnap’s software also uses the ABBYY OCR engine, the results should be comparable to doing OCR in DEVONthink Pro / Server.

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